Report: Senior Iranian official in Lebanon killed

Associated Press

February 14, 2013 - 2:25 AM

BEIRUT
- Lebanese media say a senior Iranian official has been killed as he was returning from Syria to Beirut.

Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV said Thursday the chairman of the Iranian Council for Reconstruction in Lebanon, Houssam Khosh Nweis, was killed Wednesday by "armed terrorist gangs." The station gave no further details.

Iran is a staunch supporter of Hezbollah and a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

An Iranian independent news website said Wednesday that a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard had been killed in Lebanon.

Mashreghnews.ir named the commander as Gen. Hassan Shateri. It said he was the Guard's leader in Lebanon and oversaw Iranian-financed reconstruction projects.

The difference in the name could not immediately be reconciled, but Iranian military officials in Lebanon often work under an assumed name.